Chapter 13

To live in the present is to die along your past.

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Had Berret been a second late from dodging, his head would have been split open by an ax, which instead cracked the floor open. Berret rolled to the side and staggeringly surged with his knife in his hand.

"Good," he looked around, "this place doesn't have that many things scattered around. I can move well."

For a cabin in the middle of the forest, electricity gave light to the bulbs and other appliances the brothers used. They even have a power drill just lying on the floor near its punctured holes.

"Kruaaa! Grugh!"

Each strike could literally end Berret's life. His enemy's strength was beyond any human capability.

"Agh! Agh!"

In the middle of the bedroom, pushed against the wall was the queen-sized bed of Mildred the overweight disfigured pig. And because it was on Berret's way of running away, he propped on the bed's edge and hopped to the other side while the brother followed him, imposing a downward smash.

"AGH!"

When you think that she would explode, she did not. While that was not the case, Mildred's potbelly was hacked by her huge brother's strength. He had swung at full force that the ax got stuck in her flesh.

Nightmarish cries as he roughly jerks and pulls the ax out of her body reverberated. They both listened to the rumbling screams that could almost render Berret unable to hear for a while.

"Gah! Fuck! This isn't the time to be covering my ears!"

At the foot of the bed stood the huge brother, who was still trying to remove the ax from Mildred's stomach. His eyes darted to the side when Berret began to act, moving towards his location. He growled and tried to pull the ax for the last time before letting go of it.

"How am I gonna win this?"

Berret switched from a stabbing stance to a slashing stance, holding the knife's handle the other way.

"You're not going to catch me."

Hopping on the edge of the bed while his enemy was also moving towards him, Berret faced all the odds, and his landing was not to stand on both feet but to roll between his enemy's legs, passing through him.

No time was put to waste when Berret swiftly turned around and used that knife to start a slash from the back of the huge brother's leg up to his thigh.

"Urahhh!!!"

"For someone who's buffed and all muscle, your flesh is pretty soft!"

The sound of the huge guy's leg as it had clicked to Berret's ears after being thrown at him with his head docked on the floor came like a whizzing air that wanted to crash into the barrier.

Even after such a deep wound was inflicted upon Berret's enemy, he still could move just fine, leaving the bleeding condition how it was.

"HAH!"

Due to the damage that Berret got from being thrown on the floor, speedily recovering from the docking on the floor was impossible. The huge guy had matched his reflexes, allowing himself to catch up to Berret's speed, thus landing a follow-up kick when Berret moved up, which sent the man away to the wall.

"Bleugh!"

His back hit the wall and was damaged once again. His left hand became limp and could barely be moved. And the last kick did a lot of injury from inside him. Berret did not throw up what he had eaten for lunch, but blood mixed with his vile.

"That... hurts so much!"

With Berret's back against the wooden wall, he was spitting more blood from internal bleeding. That was how bad the kick did him.

"I gotta... turn invisible."

[Activating Varnishing Mask]

A perfect disappearing device that coats the user with varnish procured using a secret ingredient— it was the best solution Berret could come up with, otherwise he would die. Taking the huge brother alone was not his intention, but he at the very least wished he could take him down. He was still in his right mind, disregarding the thought of thinking he could just fight the man to death. Even he has reasons to live.

Once he was completely out of sight, even with the vile and blood on his body, Berret forcefully encouraged himself to escape.

"Huh?! Huh?!"

Blindly, the huge brother throws everything he touches, even the dead brother on the ground. He knew that Berret was still inside the bedroom and that he would try to leave using the open path.

"I must... get to that window."

What Berret did not know was that by crawling and lying on his stomach, he was leaving a trail. It didn't take long for the huge brother to notice it.

***

"Puwah! Hah! Hah!"

Baron finally had another rest after an excruciating and tiring fight against the remaining brothers. He had run out of his usage of his kinetic shield while Wil still had his remaining scan. As for Mary, she was also at her last resort.

"There's no time to rest, Baron."

Even with a limp right foot from his last fight, Wil was ready to go, hurrying Baron from the ground.

"Mary, you can hear us, right? Go to the cabin! I saw Berret going inside earlier! See what happened inside!"

"Wha- what? I can hear him! But I wonder if he will hear me!"

[Tips: By pressing the mic icon on your Techpad's screen, you'll be able to speak through the Techfly's audio.]

"Oh, thanks a lot!" Mary pressed the mic icon and it allowed her to speak to Wil and Baron. "Hello, hello! I can hear you! I'll head there now!"

"Thanks a lot!" Will look at Baron once Mary prepares her Microdrone. "Will you head there first? If you just go straight north, you'll find the cabin."

"Do you not want me to help you?"

Baron was the least concerned after learning that all their wounds heal after finishing the job.

"We won't get there in time. We only have five minutes left."

"I understand. I'll go without you."

"Thanks. I know how Berret's mind works. He is a hotheaded quarrelsome guy. I'm sure he will try to take on the last guy by himself."

While Wil was dragging his limped leg, Baron went on his way first. But Wil was not taking the leisure of having it easy. He was moving at full speed, hoping that no more reliable members of the Room would die on him.